Sustenance
by The StripedHatter
Summary: There are times in Jinx's life when she realizes: she really hates not being allowed to rob people anymore. And it's all because of that Jerk. .:. Flinx story request.


**Well, I hope that this is kind of what you were hoping for, Lilybud. I was writing this on a car ride -nine hours of bashing my head on a window- so there might be some errors due to bumpy roads. Nonever the lesser...**

 **~For Lilybud the Storyteller~**

 **I hope everyone enjoys. ^^**

* * *

She knew he was here. There was always that slight change in the air, an almost nonexistent buzz, a fraction of a rise in temperature. She'd gotten keen to the signs of his arrival. He'd come and check on her sometimes, even if he refused to admit it.

She hummed lightly, a tune from some children's rhyme she couldn't quite recall, and traced her hand along the wall as she ambled by it. The off-white paint chipped and curled in delicate shapes in her fingers' paths.

After helping out the Titans, hiding a smile as Kid Flash showed her around her new communicator, and moving out of the H.I.V.E.'s base, she busied herself in the rundown parts of Keystone and Central. Sometimes she stretched out to Jump, when she was bored. At the moment, she was making her way through the aisles of the local grocery store of a Keystone neighborhood, small and beaten as it was. Well, until he showed up. That was when she started ruining the walls.

Sure, she wasn't a bad guy anymore. But she certainly wasn't a good guy.

She'd helped the Titans, assisted Kid on select occasions, but it wasn't that easy. Especially without any source of income.

"Midnight snacker, huh Jinx?" He'd finally quit roaming around the aisles, stepping out right in front of her as she reached the end of the cereals.

"I would have come in the day, but they were open." Her hands made their way to the opposite elbows, hip rising slightly at her right as she entered a more comfortable stance.

He smiled, as if she hadn't just broken into a grocery store, stuffed her pockets with granola bars, and _okay_. She'd snatched a couple twenties as well. Only three… four. "What happened to this?" She frowned when he held up her Titan Comm. He'd swiped it and she hadn't noticed. "I know Robin doesn't rob grocery stores." He paused, then snickered. "Robin robbing."

She rolled her eyes and snatched her device back. She just looked at it a while, Kid silent in the background. " _This_ ," She waved it around in front of his face, "Doesn't give me a roof, food, or new shoes when these stupid things wear out."

"Get a job, McDonald's is always hiring." And of _course_ he would suggest McDonald's.

"Do I even need to _begin_ to tell you the many problems that would come with me having a job?"

He frowned. "Guess not."

She didn't respond, and he didn't continue. They just kind of… looked at each other. His blue eyes implored her shocking pink irises, asking her if this was really the only means of a lifestyle she could seriously consider. Asking her if she wanted _more_ than her troubled island of confusion _._ And clearly, he was willing to give her the world and the stars if she only asked for it.

What a _jerk_.

She groaned and trudged back to the register, slamming it open with a pound of her fist and a shock of pink. Ungracefully, she shoved the money in there, making sure the bills went into the section slotted for fives, and slid the drawer shut again. Then she walked over to the open cardboard boxes of granola bars and emptied her pockets.

There were a few pockets in particular that made the boy flush and count tiles.

When he looked up at the sound of her movement, he smirked and put the bars back in their original boxes. When he finished, he found her staring at the far wall. He strolled over to stand beside her. "Y'know, I think it looks nice. Like a mural."

She gave him a look, a cross between bored and disgusted. Maybe a hint of fondness hidden in there, too. But not too much. "Whatever. See you around, Kid." She moved to make her way to the door, and he looked after her a moment before speeding to her side and exiting with her.

"Wait, where're you going?"

"Home?" she questioned in a slow, _'duh'_ tone.

"Hey, at least let me get you your midnight snack," he smiled at her hopefully. She truly wished it wasn't just her own hopeful thinking that maybe, he was asking to _take her out_ to get a snack and he just wasn't sure how she'd react if he added those few words.

Then she frowned at her thoughts. Why would she want him to take her out? She didn't even know his name. At her expression, his own fell, and he cleared his throat.

His downcast eyes tugged at something in her chest and she remembered. _'Oh yeah, because he's a jerk.'_ Before he could get a word out, she pecked him on the cheek and drew back quickly. The heat he emanated pulsed through her lips, spreading down and flopping her stomach around.

"Maybe in the day, when the stores are open." She almost smiled at the sight of his grin, the only thing keeping it back being the small hole she noticed in her left boot as she stepped in a puddle. That said, she turned and headed back to her beaten two-room apartment.

.:..:..:.

He had dropped by her apartment the next day, a bag of Big Belly Burger in hand and clothed in civvies. She'd learned his name _(Your name's_ Walter _?)_ , his affinity for chemistry, and any other small questions she'd asked as she etched his profile onto a page of her sketchbook. She'd known it was him when she opened the door because of the heat, his eyes, hair, and his sincere voice when he asked if she was ready for that snack yet.

The day after, she nearly obliterated the table next to the bed when the comm. it housed played its _stupid_ theme song. She glanced at her alarm and cussed profusely when it read to her three forty-two. She flipped the cap of the device open and laid it on its side so she didn't have to move from her pillow. "Hey, Beautiful." She would have flushed if she was more awake because _that_ was a new morning conversation starter.

"What?" she snapped sleepily.

She saw him jump and speed away through the little circular screen that she was sure gave him a perfect view of her mattress-squished face and twisted hair. "I need a little help; big baddie Cinderblock paid me a visit."

Not even bothering to question why he didn't call somebody who would've been more willing to get out of bed, she groaned long and hard before shutting the lid of the comm.

She didn't move for a bit, staring half-awake at the sketch of Wally she'd completed yesterday. It was the page flipped open still in her sketch book, complete with round eyes and wild hair.

 _Jerk_.

.:..:..:.

It didn't take long for the two of them to take the villain down, handing him over to the police so they could return him to his cell. As the two teens were walking back to her apartment, Kid Flash wanting to make sure she didn't pass out asleep in the middle of the street on the way there, she noticed something peculiar.

She stopped, causing him to slow as well. "Are you okay?"

He looked around a second before tilting his mouth in confusion. "Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Her hand lifted hesitantly and the very tips of her fingers grazed his cheek. "You're warm, but the air isn't buzzing," she mumbled offhandedly.

His own hand came up and curled around hers. "Is that… bad?"

It was decided that it was too much effort to wonder at why he was whispering. "Are you hurt?"

The shrug he offered wasn't reassuring, so she slipped her hand out of his grasp and brought the other one from her side so each were resting firmly on a shoulder. "It's not bad, and I have a fast metabolism anyways."

"Where?" At first he remained still, but her rapidly growing glower forced him into submission. He sighed and pointed to the back of his left calf.

She turned him around roughly and sat on her heels as she observed the small stream of blood that reached down his boots. At least he didn't lie, it wasn't too bad and she could see the healing process already advancing. She delicately slid her cool fingers under the material of his suit and slid the spandex away from the wound so it wouldn't get caught up in the healing.

She tried to ignore the shiver she felt crawl through his body when her cold flesh met his heated skin.

When she stood up and faced him again, he had a conflicted expression on his face. "You really didn't need to…"

"Don't… don't think too hard about it." She pursed her lips and they stood in a mild silence. Deciding that was sufficiently awkward, she pointed in the direction they were previously headed. "Let's uh… let's move it."

"Yeah."

.:..:..:.

It was a week later and three in the afternoon. Kid Flash and Jinx were stopping some new villain from robbing a bank. He wasn't all too difficult, Kid's main job was to confuse him and sneak a few punches, and Jinx tossed him around a bit. Somewhere along the way, Kid Flash managed to take a hit to the stomach, and was flipped onto the floor with a small, " _Ow._ "

Jinx glanced at him, and even though she realized it wasn't too bad and he was still on the floor because he only needed to catch his breath, she unleashed a flurry of attacks at the villain. _Something_ inside her twisted at seeing him down like that.

She didn't really realize what she was doing until Kid Flash was at her side, "Woah, Jinx! You're gonna fry him, calm down."

She stopped her attacks and blinked, glancing at the defeated robber-would-be. "Whoops," she breathed.

He snorted, and the wince that followed gained her attention.

"Does this hurt?" She roughly poked his stomach. At his _'no'_ , she moved to his right side and poked again. Despite his returning _'no'_ , he did flinch and she crossed her arms. Brow raised, she mocked him. " _No?_ "

"Honestly, I'm fine. A small bruise. How about you? I saw him graze yo-"

When she fisted the chest of his suit and slammed his mouth down to hers, it was purely to shut him up.

.:..:..:.

It was a month since the duo had taken down the new villain, and the only reason she'd relented to sharing an apartment with him was because she still didn't have a legal income, and the landlord was getting all in her hair about how she was four months behind on her rent.

She never ended up paying what she owed.

But sitting on the couch, curled up against the armrest and watching Wally move breezily through the kitchen from over top of the ledge, she decided she probably would have come anyways. Every time she looked at him, her heart shuddered to a halt and then restarted with a newfound vigor. Every time he sent her one of his dazzling smiles, her stomach plummeted to the floor and when he held her close, her mind fogged up and all she could concentrate on was his heat.

She used to think that the best times were when she could manage to find a space in the H.I.V.E. tower where she was finally free from the noise of her male teammates, relishing the calm air.

Her eyes trailed him as he took a seat next to her and offered her a sundae.

As he pressed play on the remote to start the movie, she smiled vacantly with her mind changed.

The best times were when he, Kid Flash, was close, touching, and she could feel that warm buzz penetrating the still air.

If only he'd stop being so cocky about it.


End file.
